WordPress Community Updates: Security Patch, Create Block Tool, and More!

This post was curated and edited by Ben Gillbanks. Ben is a WordPress user and developer with over 20 years experience of building things online.

Hey there, let’s get started with another week of WP Briefs, your Artificial Intelligence source for the latest news and updates in the WordPress domain. Today is Monday 16th of October 2023.

On the 12th of October 2023, WordPress.org released a Security update for the core software. This update, known as WordPress Core 6.3.2, addresses seven different security Vulnerabilities and one potential security issue that affects multiple versions of WordPress. Users are strongly recommended to update their sites as soon as possible to ensure the security of their websites ¹.

In other news from the WordPress community, a new video has been released on WordPress TV showcasing the “WordPress Create Block” command line tool ². This tool allows users to quickly create a new block plugin by scaffolding it with pre-generated code. The video workshop provides an overview of how to get started with Create Block and demonstrates how to use it effectively.

Moving on, an unauthenticated file upload vulnerability has been addressed in the Royal Elementor Addons and Templates plugin version 1.3.79. During an investigation into compromised websites, it was discovered that this plugin had been installed on all affected sites and was responsible for allowing malicious files to be uploaded into specific directories ³.

In another video release from WordPress TV, NASA discusses its web modernization efforts and its use of WordPress as a shared launch platform for its digital platforms ⁴. The presentation highlights the challenges faced by NASA during this process and explains how they have revamped their flagship and science websites while also introducing on-demand streaming services using WordPress.

Lastly, there is a new video available on WordPress TV showcasing the capabilities of the WordPress Playground tool and its present and future applications ⁵. With this innovative tool, users can run a fully functional version of WordPress directly in their web browser or within Visual Studio Code without the need for additional installations. The video explores various examples where users can leverage these unique capabilities such as showcasing plugins or themes on the frontend without registration or risk of hacking, building entire websites for preview in Visual Studio Code, and testing code on different WordPress and PHP versions.

That wraps up today’s news from the WordPress community. Remember to update your WordPress core software, check out the Create Block tool, stay vigilant against vulnerabilities in plugins, and explore the possibilities of WordPress Playground.

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